House Bill hb9055

    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HR 9055

        By Representative Betancourt






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution designating the month of October

  3         2001 as "Breast Cancer Awareness Month."

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  5         WHEREAS, every three hours, a woman dies of breast

  6  cancer in Florida, and a total of 2,600 such deaths are

  7  expected in the state during the year 2001, and

  8         WHEREAS, the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women

  9  in the United States each year, breast cancer is responsible

10  for the greatest number of cancer deaths among African

11  American women and is the second leading cause of such deaths

12  among Caucasian women, and

13         WHEREAS, Florida ranks third in the nation each year in

14  the number of new cases diagnosed and deaths reported from

15  this disease, and the American Cancer Society documented

16  11,844 new incidences of breast cancer in the state in 1999

17  and estimates that there will be 12,500 cases discovered

18  during 2001, and

19         WHEREAS, although any woman may be stricken, advancing

20  age has been found to be the greatest risk factor leading to

21  this disease, with 64 percent of all breast cancers occurring

22  in women 60 years of age or older, yet it is estimated that

23  almost one million of the state's women over the age of 40

24  have never had a mammogram, and

25         WHEREAS, the American Cancer Society advocates routine

26  clinical and mammography screening, beginning at age 40, as a

27  means of early detection through which survival rates for

28  breast cancer are greatly improved, and

29         WHEREAS, awareness programs, such as the American

30  Cancer Society's Tell-A-Friend-Tuesday program, are crucial to

31  alerting the women of Florida to the importance of early

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HR 9055

    573-149-01






  1  detection and thus improving the chances of successful

  2  treatment and cure of breast cancer, NOW, THEREFORE,

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  4  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

  5  Florida:

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  7         That the House of Representatives pauses in its

  8  deliberations to designate the month of October 2001 as

  9  "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," a time in which to stress to

10  the women of Florida the importance of routine clinical and

11  mammography screenings in the prevention and cure of breast

12  cancer.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.